A Living Sacrifice

I ordered this purity ring a couple of weeks ago. Isn’t it pretty? A close friend of mine also got one, hers has a ruby instead of an amethyst. We looked online at some different ones, but we both liked this one the best. The picture does not do it justice at all!

After I got the ring, I got thinking about the meaning of purity. We know the obvious meaning of purity and of a purity ring...saving yourself for your life’s mate. A ring is the token of this purity. But what else? There must be more to it than that.

I looked up the meaning of purity in the dictionary, (like any good Bible College Graduate :) and got two results. One was freedom from immorality, especially of a sexual nature. The other was freedom from adulteration or contamination. This meaning kind of intrigued me. Our world today is so plagued with sin and wickedness, how could anyone be free and pure from contamination? It seems impossible, and it probably is impossible to not be influenced and tempted by the world. But just because we are influenced by the world doesn’t mean we have to be contaminated. Contamination happens when something poisonous is added to make the substance impure. (Another dictionary definition for you!) If we allow things from the world to poison us, to enter into us, we become impure.

So what are these things of the world that can contaminate us? Certainly we know the obvious things, drinking, drugs, etc. But what about other seemingly harmless things the world has to offer? Here’s a couple of things that come to my mind:

Speech. So often I feel like I use words that aren’t wrong, but may be just “lazy” words. The Bible tells us that we should do all to the glory of God, so shouldn’t that include speech that is “excellent?” Also so many times at school I was convicted about how often I talked about other people. Its not gossip if its public news, right? But was it necessary to talk about them, probably not.

Manners. A friend of mine recently blogged all about the bad manners in our society today, and I totally agree with her, so I won’t re-state it here! It does seem today like manners and any sense of etiquette have gone out the window. (BTW, etiquette is defined as “the customary code of polite behavior in society.” Certainly does not sound like our society!!) I could say a lot about that, but I will just say that it is a challenge to me as I see so many bad manners to make sure mine could not be included in that category!

Ministry focus...or lack thereof. Now I know that not everyone is called to full-time ministry, and thats not really what I mean. More just a willingness to live a life pleasing to God instead of centering our lives around money and a job and on and on the list could go with what society offers us. It is so easy to get busy with life and leave God out of our busy schedules and daily activities!

These are just a few of the ways I thought of that I am tempted to get contaminated by the world. A few years ago I was reading a book by Dr. Jim Berg, and this thought really struck me: why is it that we as Christians take what the world has to offer and clean it up enough for it to be suitable for a Christian? Why can’t we as “little-christ” have a higher standard and ambition than that? Obviously we have to use the same resources as the world, that is a little different, but in those areas where we can become contaminated, what the world has to offer seems so shallow to try to “dress up” for the Christian life.

Well, I will end my rambling thoughts, but this idea of purity in every area of my life certainly has made me evaluate several areas of my life and prayerfully make some changes! I hope that this purity ring will not only represent physical purity but also a purity of a life that is pleasing to God in every way.